(an update to my family, but posted here to kill two birds...)
temple family update: ephraim is leading a stake youth musical play. they're singing and acting out Oh Lord, My Redeemer. he's looking for ways to motivate and control youth. he has a colleague coming from UH tonight to explore the possibility of students in AS taking aquaculture courses through the program they've set up in Second Life. he's from israel, and i don't know how familiar he is with samoan style, or slow samoan internet. hopefully this goes far. ephraim wanted to see if it would even work so set up his avatar on second life last night, and it's really bizarre at first.
melinda: i hopped in a plane and went to apia (western samoa) wed-thurs while a friend watched the kids. i went with my friends bro and sis pili to tour this program called south pacific business development (you can google it) that does microloans to finance womens groups doing small business. it finances like 5,000 women who do anything from selling peanuts, fruit, flowers, handicrafts, to electronics and car parts. it's remarkable. eye-opening. freeing thousands of families from poverty. they use the grameen model, which you should also google. i loved watching it in action. we'd like to do something like that here, but our people will have to get over their lazy dependence on welfare, wic, and taxes. we also went to the temple in apia and i enjoyed quiet time to reflect without having to wipe a nose or change a diaper.
lately i've been reading "bonds that make us free" and "active parenting today", both provoke frequent self-evaluation, which i'm grateful for.
ella borrowed a movie from our friends today. it's called Barbie's Learn to Dance Like a Princess! so she's excited to try it out tomorrow.
isaac runs around like a hoodlum with the neighbor boys. they ride bikes, catch and torment toads, have at least two water fights with hoses, and scream and fight then come in a house and demand food and drink. is this healthy? what can or should i do? fortunately we get a break on sundays, but keeping those boys apart makes me feel like a prison guard.
owen is cute. i'm sure he'll be walking in a few weeks. his new discovery is climbing on a chair and then on the table. and he's attracted to plugs.
that's basically us. i loved all the conference talks about teaching in the home. i feel like it's a huge task laid on my shoulders, but lucky for me i feel like i've been preparing for this task all my life and there's none other i'd rather do.
5 comments:
Great update! You guys are awesome. Glad you got some time "off", Melinda, with a little trip to Apia.
Amen, about your last paragraph. There were so many talks about parenting and I was jotting down whatever I could.
lazy samoan culture? are they really that pathetic? i wondered why they are all obese and everyone just seems to be eating and having feasts all the time, that explains all the diabetes, hypertension, and other illnesses....wonder if this is what the US taypayer has caused? that's pretty sad that they are so sedentary and have no work ethic .....now i dont ever want to come there to visit
right, anon. maybe 'lazy' isn't fair. we'll edit.
btw, i would think a sedentary life and slow work ethic would CAUSE people to visit. i hope our blog has shown plenty of beautiful reasons to come.
Melinda,
I love reading your blog. Sounds like you and Ephraim are doing so many wonderful things things there for the people of Samoa. Sounds like you are learning many things as well. Glad you got to go to the temple. I went to the open house when I was there in 2005. It is so gorgeous and truly a blessing to the Samoan people. Your blog makes me homesick for the food, culture and the beauty of the island. Thanks for posting.
I read this post back when you posted in April, and for some reason my mind comes back to it every once in a while and I realized that I really need to comment so that my brain can move on!
I too, like Anon, picked up on your use of "lazy" and it hasn't sat quite right with me.
Moving to the south has had a similar effect on me though. At first I was astounded that so many people (African American people, primarily) would rather be on welfare than make something of their life. But then the more I learned, the more I realized that every minority racial group that the American white male historically has pushed down has a few things in common: 1) Part of disenfranchisement is taking away a group's mode of living and making them dependent on a welfare system and 2) There are systemic hurdles in place so that ambitious minority peoples often have enormous barriers to overcome in order to make something of themselves. If we look at the Native peoples sitting on their reservations in pretty bad shape, the systemic racism in the South, the situation in American Samoa and everywhere else the US has been, it is a similarly bleak picture. As you said, you flew to Western Samoa and the people there were making their way just fine, but you came back to American Samoa, and it was a totally different picture. I highly doubt that when Americans first landed in American Samoa they found a bunch of people sitting around waiting for their handout: no, that picture is part of disenfranchisement and taking over a place for personal reasons (like the convenience of having a military stronghold in the Pacific, for example).
So, I guess I just felt like it would be a shame if you leave American Samoa having an impression of the people that does not take into account their history! Empowering a disenfranchised group is a tricky thing to do when you only look through your own lenses of privilege. It sounds like your school is awesome though. You are really inspiring. That's it!
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